


Peter Nureyev loves his girlfriend

by magznus



Series: TPP [21]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eye Trauma, Hurt Juno Steel, Hurt/Comfort, Past Violence, Protective Peter Nureyev, wump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:40:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27465070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magznus/pseuds/magznus
Summary: Peter had come to notice a few things about Juno Steel. The cranky detective had changed so much in the time they had been apart, his personality lighter and his edges softer. There were days when Peter would watch him in awe and wonder how someone could change so much in less than a year.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Series: TPP [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1639732
Comments: 1
Kudos: 83





	Peter Nureyev loves his girlfriend

They had been living on the carte blanch for only a few weeks, and in that time Peter Nureyev had managed to already break one promise to himself. He had known the second he saw Juno Steel that he couldn’t let him back into his life, and the second Juno had knocked on his bedroom door he had known that he was going to do it anyway. In those short weeks, they had spent hours talking, making amends, and growing closer than they had been before.  
In all that time, Peter came to notice a few things about Juno Steel. The cranky detective had changed so much in the time they had been apart, his personality lighter and his edges softer. There were days when Peter would watch him in awe and wonder how someone could change so much in less than a year.  
It wasn’t until almost three weeks after they had reconciled that Peter saw a glimpse of the detective he first met. They had been laying together in Peter’s bed after dinner, Juno was playing on his phone while Peter read with his head resting on Juno’s chest. Their nightly ritual of talking had begun to develop into their time to just be around each other or spend time alone.  
Glancing up from his book, Peter watched as Juno reached up to scratch at his eye, the eye patch ridding up just slightly to reveal the beginning of a mess of scars. Even after Juno had dropped his hand and the scars were covered again, Peter couldn’t bring himself to look away. The last time he had seen Juno without something covering his eye had been as they were headed to the hospital after escaping Miasma. He had never known what it looked like after healing fully, from the small glance he had a good idea of the mess of scar tissue that sat under the scar tissue.  
Juno must have noticed his staring and glanced down at Peter.  
“What? Do I have something on my face?”  
“Hm? Oh no, it’s nothing dear.” Peter tried brushing it off “Is something wrong with me enjoying looking at my girlfriend?”  
“I suppose not.” Juno smiled sheepishly.  
Smiling Peter reached up and brushed his fingers over Juno’s cheek, the awkward angle causing him to catch just slightly on the strap of the eye patch. Again it rose just slightly, only this time Juno noticed. His hand slammed down on top of Peter’s, pushing the eye patch into place before turning away.  
“Juno? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”  
“It’s fine!”  
“Are you sure?” Peter sighed “I know we’ve been trying to talk more, and you’ve never brought it up but I think-”  
“I said it’s fine Nureyev!” Juno sat up, dislodging Peter from his side. “I’m tired, I think I’m gonna head to bed.”  
“Juno…” Peter sighed, watching as Juno stood up from the bed and moved to the door. “Love please come back, we don’t have to talk, about anything if you don’t want to.”  
“I’m just, tired okay? I think I just need to sleep for a bit. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Juno left without another word.  
Nureyev laid in bed, staring at the door for what felt like hours. He hadn’t heard that tone from Juno in over a year, the words bitter as he closed himself off completely. He knew that Juno still struggled with things, no matter how much better he was doing, Juno still had problems in his life. And Peter had managed to ruin their night by forcing them out.  
After a while he got out of bed, though it was nearing 2am, Peter knew Juno would still be awake. And when he knocked on the door he was rewarded by a soft voice responding.  
"Its open" Juno sounded exhausted, and it broke Peter’s heart.  
He slid the door open, trying to put on a warm smile as he looked around the room. He found Juno on the bed, sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. His eye was bloodshot and his nose looked like it had been rubbed raw. Peter sighed and walked closer.  
"I'm sorry."  
Juno laughed, "you didn't do anything wrong Nureyev."  
"Well I did something wrong, or else you wouldn't have run off like that, wouldn't be crying by yourself at 2 am."  
"It's not your fault." Juno sighed and looked down. "I shouldn't have run out on you like that, I'm sorry. "  
"You've done nothing wrong my love." Peter moved closer to the bed, sitting down on the edge. "Something upset you, you needed space and so you left. There's nothing wrong with that."  
Juno just shrugged, still not looking up as Peter moved closer. Allowing the silence to continue Peter inched slowly across the bed, moving closer to Juno just slightly. He stopped just short of touching him, leaving just enough room that it was up to Juno to close the gap if he wanted to.  
They sat like that for a while, the only sound was their breathing. Until finally Juno broke the silence.  
"I...I haven't let anyone see it. Not since we left the hospital, well except for a different doctor, and jet when he- the point is almost no one has seen it. And I've never willingly shown it to anyone. I didn't even take the eye patch off when I slept for the first few months. It's healed a lot since then of course, but...that doesn't make it more bearable to look at. Nureyev, promise me something."  
"Anything"  
"Please just, leave. Don't say anything or try to console me because I know what it looks like. Promise that instead, you'll just leave."  
"Oh Juno."  
"Nureyev please."  
"Juno steel, I promise I'll never leave you. I won't hide the truth, or sugar coat it. But I will not leave."  
Juno sighed, and looked up at him with sad eyes before reaching up and pulling at the elastic of the eye patch.  
It slipped off his head completely, and suddenly Peter was looking into one dark and warm eye, and a socket where it's twin once sat. It was a mess of scar tissue, some old and some new, much newer than he was comfortable with. It didn't look painful, there was no blood or pulsing veins like the last time he had seen both of Juno's eyes, and that at least was reassuring.  
He looked at Juno for a moment longer before bringing his hand up to trace along his cheek, around to his nose and then up alone his brow bone. Delicate and careful as he admired the lady before him.  
Peter took a deep breath "Juno steel, my wonderfully cranky detective, you are the most beautiful person I have ever seen." He smiled, leaving a kiss on Juno's brow, "you have scars, many you didn't deserve, but they all come together to make you. And I wouldn't have you any other way."  
Juno was watching him carefully, tears that formed the second his eye patch came off now flowing freely and onto Peter's hands.  
"How are you so wonderful Nureyev?"  
"You bring out the best in me my dear." Peter smiled and wiped away the tears. "I think we could both use some sleep don't you? And, if you don't mind, I would like if we could do that together."  
Juno let out a watery laugh, "yeah I would love that."  
Together they shifted around on the bed, until Peter was laying on his back with Juno resting almost entirely on top of him. He reached down and began to twirl Juno’s curls between his fingers, letting his nails scrape lightly against his scalp. Juno let out a sigh and sunk further into Peter, his eye fluttering closed as he relaxed completely.  
It was late, and Peter knew that they needed to be up in only a few hours, but that didn’t stop him from laying awake watching Juno even as he fell asleep. He hadn’t put his eye patch back on when they had laid down, and now Peter stared down at it him in earnest.  
He hadn’t lied when he spoke, Juno was the most beautiful lady he had ever laid eyes on. But he couldn’t help the feelings of guilt that coursed through him as he saw the consequences of his action. Juno had lost an eye because of him, and now he could only think of all of the ways he could have changed things.  
Peter knew that the past was gone, and there rationally was nothing he could do to change it, so instead, he resolved to never let anything like that ever happen again. And, looking down at Juno, he knew that he would spend as long as it took making sure Juno knew just how sorry he was and just how much he loved him.


End file.
